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THE MANY FACES OF BELGIAN FASCISM - LOW COUNTRY POLITICS, REAL AND SURREAL.
Opinionjournal.Com, Bret Stephens
PipeLineNews.org, CA
Aug. 27, 2006
BRUSSELS--Belgium is the birthplace of Rene Magritte. So perhaps it's
not surprising that, in politics, even the fascism here is surreal.
Take Belgian Socialists, Flemish or Walloon. The hallmark of nearly
every European socialist party has long been hostility to religion.
In recent years, Belgium's ruling Socialist-Liberal coalition has
antagonized Catholics by legalizing gay marriage and euthanasia,
banning crucifixes from government buildings, and abolishing the
traditional Te Deum service previously held by the government to
commemorate the inauguration of Leopold I, first king of the Belgians.
But then the Socialists began taking note of Belgium's Muslim
community, some 500,000 strong. In Brussels, notes Joël Rubinfeld
of the Atlantis Institute think tank, half of the Socialist Party's
26-member slate in the city's 75-seat parliament is Muslim. In the
commune of Molenbeek, longstanding Socialist mayor Philippe Moureaux
has made halal meals standard in all schools; police officers are
also barred from eating or drinking on the streets during Ramadan.
The Socialist Party was also, improbably, the leading opponent
of a bill that would have criminalized the denial of the Armenian
genocide. This, too, is a product of burgeoning Muslim-Socialist
alliance, as is the party's routine denunciations of Israel.
--Boundary_(ID_io7UT03scSqJnxN7x+plYQ)--
Opinionjournal.Com, Bret Stephens
PipeLineNews.org, CA
Aug. 27, 2006
BRUSSELS--Belgium is the birthplace of Rene Magritte. So perhaps it's
not surprising that, in politics, even the fascism here is surreal.
Take Belgian Socialists, Flemish or Walloon. The hallmark of nearly
every European socialist party has long been hostility to religion.
In recent years, Belgium's ruling Socialist-Liberal coalition has
antagonized Catholics by legalizing gay marriage and euthanasia,
banning crucifixes from government buildings, and abolishing the
traditional Te Deum service previously held by the government to
commemorate the inauguration of Leopold I, first king of the Belgians.
But then the Socialists began taking note of Belgium's Muslim
community, some 500,000 strong. In Brussels, notes Joël Rubinfeld
of the Atlantis Institute think tank, half of the Socialist Party's
26-member slate in the city's 75-seat parliament is Muslim. In the
commune of Molenbeek, longstanding Socialist mayor Philippe Moureaux
has made halal meals standard in all schools; police officers are
also barred from eating or drinking on the streets during Ramadan.
The Socialist Party was also, improbably, the leading opponent
of a bill that would have criminalized the denial of the Armenian
genocide. This, too, is a product of burgeoning Muslim-Socialist
alliance, as is the party's routine denunciations of Israel.
--Boundary_(ID_io7UT03scSqJnxN7x+plYQ)--